Doctor Who retirement seems to suit Steven Moffat. It’s been a while since we’ve seen him as relaxed as he is in this interview with the Doctor Who Fan Show, and with it comes the old wry Moffat wit – plus some amazing tidbits from his time in charge.

For instance, on the failed attempt to replace the ‘old’ copper coloured Daleks with larger multi-coloured models, he’s brutally honest about the failings.

“It was a salutary lesson,” he says. “The fault lies entirely with me, not the brilliant team who made the new Daleks. They were beautiful in many respects. But it was my mistake, and a completely unnecessary one… Now if you’ve seen those actual props, they’re gorgeous. If you see them on stage or in real life. Where they don’t look good is on television, the only place it matters that they look good!”

“It was a fascinating lesson I never forgot. We made the Daleks huge. Why? We make the Daleks huge and you just move the camera further away, and you make the Doctor smaller.”

He goes on to explain that the fault was in focussing on the wrong things in his first year as showrunner.

“We put so much thought and effort into our first block, episodes that I think stands up to this day – I took my eye off the ball of my block two episodes. I shouldn’t have been on that set, I shouldn’t have been giving endless notes on rushes that were unnecessary. I should have moved my attention to block two, taken a look at those Daleks’ camera tests. Most of the things I’m unsure about are in that block two, when most of my attention was on beginning. Beginning is easy, it’s keeping going that’s hard.”

Of course, that beginning might have been very different, if David Tennant had decided to stay on.

“David was going through the now-to-me very familiar angst about leaving, [but] it would definitely have been his last one.”

To that end, the plot would have been close to what turned into Matt Smith’s debut, with some significant differences.

“My version of that series would have been the David Tennant Doctor crashing into the back garden about to regenerate, and little Amelia would help him back to the Tardis and fly off.

“And then she’d meet him later, but he’d have no memory of that, because we’d come to realise that was the Doctor from the future and we’d make our way through the series to the point where the Doctor gets back to that.”

It’s an interesting ‘what-if’ for fans to ponder, and Moffat was keen to push back on the idea that every new showrunner must change everything just for the sake of it.

“Frankly if David and Catherine [Tate] had wanted to continue, I wouldn’t have [changed everything], it would have been the same design for the Tardis [etc]. Because there’s no way that version of the show was worn out.”

The rest of the interview, which covers everything from social media to the 50^thanniversary, is well worth a listen.

Production on Doctor Who series 11 has been based in Cape Town, South Africa since the start of the year, with block two of episodes now filming. Mark Tonderai is directing this block, and reports of location work have been popping up on Twitter over the past week or so.

Furthermore, the Girly Letters account has now uncovered a bunch of images from the Cape Town shoot of Doctor Who. Without further ado…

https://twitter.com/GirlyLetters/status/952552730941370368

https://twitter.com/GirlyLetters/status/952630211505508352

https://twitter.com/SPACE_JODIE/status/952600219354652673

Filming continues on the new series, although we suspect its time in South Africa is edging to an end…

UPDATE: Whilst Mark Tonderai hasn’t been officially announced as the director of Doctor Who series 11’s second block of episodes, he clearly is. The shoot has been in and around the Cape Town area of South Africa this past week or two, and Tonderai’s Instagram account has now revealed that it’s headed to the desert for filming…

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd-3puAhvc0/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_legacy

Tonderai is directing at least two episodes of the new series.

Previously…

Doctor Who series 11, headlined by Jodie Whittaker of course, is currently filming an episode in South Africa as part of the second block of episodes for the new series. And thanks to the sleuthing work of the excellent Ruther2 on Twitter, it looks as if we know who’s directing that block.

Mark Tonderai, director of films such as Hush and House At The End Of The Street, is reckoned to be directing the second block of episodes. The discovery was made thanks, in time honoured fashion, to an actor’s agent listing. In this case, Gareth Marks, who’s playing ‘The Police Officer’ in the new series…

Stand by for some #Rutherexclusive series 11 news

— Ruther (@Ruther2) January 6, 2018

Tonderai, whilst not officially announced, has fine form in television too, with shows such as Gotham, Lucifer and The Five to his name.

Filming continues on the new series.

UPDATE: Another top spot from @Ruther2 – block two of Doctor Who series 11 features episodes 2 and 3 of the new series. The first block covered episodes 1 and 7.

Tributes have been paid to the “huge comedy talent” Bella Emberg, who has died, aged 80.

Bella played two uncredited parts during the Third Doctor’s era. She appeared as a nurse in Doctor Who and the Silurians and as a kitchen maid in The Time Warrior.

In the revived series, she played Mrs Croot in Love & Monsters. She filmed a second appearance as Mrs Croot for The Runaway Bride, but this scene ended up on the cutting room floor.

Bella Emberg is best known for playing comedic parts, most notably as a foil to Benny Hill and later Russ Abbot during various of both of these comedians’ television programmes.

She was “a woman of immense warmth and generosity”, Abbot said.

Emberg also appeared on The Benny Hill Show, Z Cars and Doctor Who in a television career spanning six decades.

“She was not only a great sport but a huge comedy talent. I count myself very lucky to have worked alongside her,” Abbot added.

“She really was a one-off.”

In an interview with the Daily Mirror last year, Emberg insisted the Blunder Woman character had been a blessing, not a curse, despite meaning that when the show finished in 1996 she could not get work.

“I went for jobs and they’d say: ‘We’d love to hire you but you’re too well known with Russ,'” she told the paper.

“Once every few weeks I go and look at that Blunder Woman costume – still hanging up at home – and I feel nothing but gratitude.”

Sad news. Goodbye to Bella Emberg. pic.twitter.com/6vrAAgsPef

— Carol Challis (@BeingBoycie) January 12, 2018

Such sad news … my wonderful friend Bella Emberg has passed away. We’ve been chums since appearing together in a Summer show with Russ Abbot at the Princess Theatre, Torquay in 1981. A genuinely nice woman and despite her fierce on-stage characterisations, a truly gentle soul.

— Bobby Crush (@theBobbyCrush) January 12, 2018

So sad to lose the lovely Bella Emberg. A funny, lovely friend. Thoughts and love with Rosemary. Goodnight Sweetheart x pic.twitter.com/SNYQK92BmO

— Les Dennis (@LesDennis) January 13, 2018

https://twitter.com/BobbyDavro1/status/951982569813434369

Actor Les Dennis paid tribute to his “funny, lovely friend”, while comedian Bobby Davro called her “a true comedy talent”.

Friend and pianist Bobby Crush described her as a “truly gentle soul”.

The “funniest fairy”, comedy actor Paul Chuckle added, while her agent said she would be “greatly missed”.

Emberg had just finished filming a new Sky One comedy, In the Long Run, created by Idris Elba and due to be released later this year.

It’s fair to say that this autumn’s series of Doctor Who is one of the most eagerly-anticipated in years, with fans desperate to learn everything they can about new Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker and her first adventures in the Tardis.

However, it turns out that finding out things about the new series might be especially difficult in 2018 – because new showrunner Chris Chibnall has revealed he’s working hard to keep Doctor Who production even more under wraps now that he’s taken over.

“The Thirteenth Doctor is here, and we can tell you everything,” Chibnall wrote in Doctor Who Magazine’s regular Production Notes column, previously penned by showrunner predecessors Steven Moffat and Russell T Davies. “Although, of course, we’d rather not – for now.

“We’d rather keep things for when we can show you, rather than tell you. So if we don’t announce much, or give interviews for a while, it’s because we’re currently focusing all our attention on making the show, not talking about it.”

Still, Chibnall didn’t hold all his cards to his chest, revealing exactly what Steven Moffat said to get him to take over the top job as well as his own trepidation and excitement at working on the new series.

“Let me think of something I can tell you,” Chibnall said. “How about the words Steven Moffat used, when he broached the question of whether I’d want to take over the greatest show on television?

“He said: ‘I’m sorry, but I’m about to derail your life.’ As opening gambits go, it’s a good one. And. As it turns out, true.

“Now, you’re probably either excited or worried about the future – maybe both,” he went on.

“‘If it’s any consolation, that combination of excitement and concern is also the natural state of making the show: excited about what you’re planning, concerned how you’ll achieve it.”

Chibnall finished by paying tribute to Doctor Who’s legacy of change, casting Whittaker’s status as the first female incarnation of the Doctor just one more step in that grand legacy.

“What’s evident is Doctor Who’s extraordinary ability to embrace change while remaining exactly the same show that people love,” he said.

“Doctor Who wrote change into its format from the start, going from location to location and story to story. Then it wrote change into the DNA of its lead character!

“It’s always looking forward, asking ‘What’s next?’ That’s the job, for me, for the writers, for the production team, for Jodie and all our new cast.

“That’s our challenge, and we’re loving it. It is so much fun,” he concluded.

We can hardly wait to see that fun explode on screen – even if we have to hold off a little longer than usual before we find out what’s happening.